Archive for the '2009 Offseason' Tag Under 'Ducks' Category

Monday's acknowledgement by top-line center Ryan Getzlaf that he might not be fully recovered from last week's sports-hernia surgery in time for the opening of training camp points up a potentially significant issue for the Ducks as the 2009-10 NHL regular season draws closer.

Getzlaf is among five Ducks players who have undergone off-season surgeries, and given a particularly daunting early season schedule, the club could ill afford to open the campaign with a multitude of performers on the injured list or at less than full strength.

Of the five, only left wing-center Erik Christensen, who is recovering from major shoulder surgery, appears likely to possibly miss any regular-season playing time. Center Todd Marchant (broken foot), center Petteri Nokelainen (sports hernia) and right wing George Parros (hand) are expected to be ready when training camp begins Sept. 13.

Still, if any of their recoveries don't go as planned, or in the quite possible event the Ducks lose any players to injuries during camp or the eight-game exhibition campaign, they could be forced to begin the season at a disadvantage. No NHL team makes it through a year without injury challenges, but no one wants to start without key players, either.

The former Ducks captain recently left the residence he still maintains in Orange County for a visit to his hometown of Vancouver, and has begun ice skating in preparation for the opening of training camp with the St. Louis Blues on Sept. 12.

The summer rollerblading is nothing out of the norm for Kariya, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but it was particularly important this year given that the speedy left winger is attempting to rebound from two serious hip injuries that required separate surgeries. Kariya appeared in only 11 games for the Blues last season, the last on Nov. 5, but put up 15 points before being diagnosed with a problem involving his left hip socket and a torn labrum.

Set to turn 35 in October, if you can believe that, Kariya is entering what might be a make-or-break season, given that he is in the final year of an $18 million contract signed with St. Louis in 2007.

The San Jose Sharks have called a Thursday news conference, at which longtime NHL star turned role player Jeremy Roenick is expected to announce his retirement.

Roenick nearly retired two years ago, but Sharks general manager Doug Wilson persuaded his former Chicago Blackhawks teammate to return to the ice, hoping the veteran could help San Jose finally win a Stanley Cup championship.

That didn't happen, obviously, with the Ducks ousting the Presidents' Trophy-winning Sharks in the opening round of last season's playoffs.

By all accounts, the mouthy and sometimes petulant Roenick cleaned up his act and was a tremendous teammate and leader during his time in San Jose, but he nonetheless will leave the game without a Stanley Cup ring.

Still, after putting up 513 goals and 703 assists over a 20-year career, tying him with Larry Murphy for 39th place on the NHL's all-time scoring list, Roenick will be remembered as one of the top players of his era. The league won't be quite the same without him.

The month of August is traditionally the slowest on the NHL calendar, the lull between the July free-agent storm and the September opening of training camps.

Once upon a time, however, it wasn't that way.

In 2005, after the league and the NHL Players Association had finally reached labor accord in the wake of the devastating lockout that had wiped out the 2004-05 campaign, free-agency season opened on Aug. 1. Three days later, or exactly four years ago, the Ducks made the biggest free-agent signing in team history, landing superstar defenseman Scott Niedermayer with a four-year, $27 million contract.

Joining a team that had failed to reach the playoffs in 2003-04 after he had spent 12 seasons and won three Stanley Cup championships with the New Jersey Devils, Niedermayer immediately became Ducks captain and led the club to the 2006 Western Conference finals and the 2007 Stanley Cup crown. And if anyone thinks Niedermayer was not the driving force in the transition of the Ducks from a middling franchise into an elite NHL team, he or she simply was not paying attention.

Top-line center Ryan Getzlaf, recovering from Wednesday surgery to repair a torn abdominal muscle, anticipates being in the lineup when the Ducks open the 2009-10 NHL regular-season Oct. 3 against the rival San Jose Sharks at Honda Center.

Getzlaf isn't so sure about his status for the Sept. 13 opening of training camp.

"We'll see how it goes, whether I'm at full bore at camp," Getzlaf said by telephone Monday from near his off-season home in Kelowna, British Columbia. "The main thing is to be at full bore opening night."

Getzlaf, who traced the origin of the problem to last season but said it did not hamper him during the Stanley Cup playoffs, became the fifth player the Ducks have sent to renowned Philadelphia-based Dr. William Meyers for similar sports-hernia type surgeries in little more than two years. Recovery times have varied.

If it just so happens that you'll be in the Chicago area later this month, or if you're a passionate enough hockey fan to make such plans, USA Hockey announced Monday that an orientation camp for potential members of the 2010 U.S. Olympic team will be open to the public.

Admission is free, on a first-come, first-serve basis, for on-ice sessions Aug. 17 and Aug. 18 at the Seven Bridges Ice Arena in Woodridge, Ill.

Doors are scheduled to open at 9 a.m. (CDT) each day, with one-hour, split-squad practices at 10:15 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 17, and at 10:05 a.m. and 11:20 a.m. on Aug. 18. Players are scheduled to be available for limited autographs at random times over the two days.

Among the 34 players invited to attend the orientation camp are two members of the Ducks, defenseman Ryan Whitney and winger Bobby Ryan. They are scheduled to be in the earlier practice group on Aug. 17 and the later group on Aug. 18.

The Ducks are probably as happy as anyone that longtime Dallas Stars standout defenseman Sergei Zubov is apparently destined to finish his sparkling career in his native Russia.

Of course, that sentiment has nothing to do with Zubov personally.

By all accounts, he has long been among the NHL's more respected players, and certainly among its more talented and creative blue-liners, especially on the power play. It's just that like many teams, the Ducks have repeatedly been burned by Zubov over the years, so his absence from Dallas wouldn't break many hearts in Anaheim.

Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News presented a nice look at the situation involving Zubov, who will apparently play this season for SKA St. Petersburg in the Kontinental Hockey League.

A former Norris Trophy winner himself, while with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1981, Randy Carlyle of the Ducks got the opportunity to coach another player who had been honored as the NHL's top defenseman when Scott Niedermayer arrived via free agency in 2005.

A year later, Carlyle found a real luxury on his hands when the Ducks traded for Chris Pronger, giving the team a rare distinction of having two former Norris winners on the same blue line. Pronger was the league's best defenseman in 2000, when he also won the Hart Trophy as most valuable player with the St.Louis Blues, and Niedermayer captured the Norris with the New JerseyDevils in 2004.

While Niedermayer remains to lead the Ducks as captain, Pronger is gone, sent to the Philadelphia Flyers in a June 26 trade. The blockbuster enabled the Ducks to re-acquire goal-scoring winger Joffrey Lupul, as well as obtain promising young defenseman Luca Sbisa, first-round picks in the NHL entry draft this year and next, and a conditional third-round selection in either 2010 or 2011.

"The Chris Pronger trade is a tough trade because you don't have too many opportunities to have that type of player in your lineup for several years," Carlyle said. "He was a great player for us and is a great player.

"We got a young defenseman, Lupes and a package of first-round picks. Obviously, it's a deal that almost had to be made."